Individual differences in sensitivity to the odor of 4,16-androstadien-3-one

Individual differences in sensitivity to the putative human pheromone androstadienone were investigated in three experiments. In experiment 1, the absolute detection threshold for androstadienone was determined to be 211 micro M using the method of constant stimuli. Detection for the related compound estratetraenol was also investigated but a threshold could not be determined. In experiment 2, using an adaptive threshold test on 100 participants, the sensitivity distribution for androstadienone, but not for the reference odor phenylethyl alcohol, was bimodal, with a smaller group of individuals with a high sensitivity to androstadienone (supersmellers). A lack of correlation between thresholds for androstadienone and phenylethyl alcohol further suggested that the bimodality for androstadienone was not due to individuals with a high general olfactory sensitivity. In line with an earlier observation, there was a statistical tendency for women to be more sensitive to androstadienone than men. Results of experiment 3 preclude the possibility that the bimodal sensitivity distribution for androstadienone would depend on individual differences in trigeminal activation. Altogether, the current study suggests that olfactory sensitivity to androstadienone is bimodally distributed in the population with a subgroup consisting of highly sensitive people.     

Bacteria as workers in the living factory: metal-accumulating bacteria and their potential for materials science

Metal micro-/nano-particles with suitable chemical modification can be organized into new ceramic-metal (cermet) or organic-metal (orgmet) composites or structured materials. These materials are attracting significant attention because of their unique structures and highly optimized properties. However, the synthesis of composite materials with inhomogeneities on the nanometer or sub-micrometer scale is a continuing challenge in materials science. Many industrial physical and chemical surface-coating processes using conventional techniques are both energy and cost inefficient and require sophisticated instrumentation. In the future, biology might offer a superior option.     

Progression from hypertrophic to dilated cardiomyopathy in mice that express a mutant myosin transgene

A mouse model of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) was created by expression of a cardiac alpha-myosin transgene including the R(403)Q mutation and a deletion of a segment of the actin-binding domain. HCM mice show early histopathology and hypertrophy, with progressive hypertrophy in females and ventricular dilation in older males. To test the hypothesis that dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is part of the pathological spectrum of HCM, we studied chamber morphology, exercise tolerance, hemodynamics, isolated heart function, adrenergic sensitivity, and embryonic gene expression in 8- to 11-mo-old male transgenic animals. Significantly impaired exercise tolerance and both systolic and diastolic dysfunction were seen in vivo. Contraction and relaxation parameters of isolated hearts were also decreased, and lusitropic responsiveness to the beta-adrenergic agonist isoproterenol was modestly reduced. Myocardial levels of the G protein-coupled beta-adrenergic receptor kinase 1 (beta-ARK1) were increased by more than twofold over controls, and total beta-ARK1 activity was also significantly elevated. Induction of fetal gene expression was also observed in transgenic hearts. We conclude that transgenic male animals have undergone cardiac decompensation resulting in a DCM phenotype. This supports the idea that HCM and DCM may be part of a pathological continuum rather than independent diseases.     

Uptake capacity of amino acids by ten grasses and forbs in relation to soil acidity and nitrogen availability

Uptake capacity of organic nitrogen was studied in solution experiments on eight grasses and two forbs growing in acid soils with relatively high nitrogen mineralisation in southern Sweden. Uptake of a mixture of amino acids (alanine, glutamine, glycine), that varied between 1.6 and 6.3 μmol g(-1) dw root h(-1), could not be explained by soil data from the species' field distributions (pH, total carbon and nitrogen, potential net mineralisation of ammonium and nitrate). The ratio between organic and inorganic nitrogen (methylamine) uptake was <0.05 for the forbs, higher for the grasses with a maximum of 1.42 for Deschampsia flexuosa. The ratio was negatively correlated with measures related to soil acidity (Ellenberg's R-value, soil nitrate and total carbon) but not, as hypothesised, with the total amount of mineralised nitrogen. The total demand on nitrogen by all components of the ecosystem would probably have described the extent to which competition among and between plants and microbes induced nitrogen limitation. In a methodological study two grasses were exposed to pH 3.8, 4.5 and 6.0 and to 50, 100 and 250 μmol l(-1) of three amino acids. Uptake was also compared between intact plants and excised roots. The treatment response varied considerably between the species which stresses the importance of studying intact plants at field-relevant pH and concentrations.     

Influence of high light and UV-B radiation on photosynthesis and D1 turnover in atrazine-tolerant and -sensitive cultivars of Brassica napus

An atrazine-tolerant mutant and an atrazine-sensitive cultivar of Brassica napus L. were grown under visible radiation (400 mumol m-2 s-1, photosynthetically active radiation, PAR) and then subjected to treatment conditions. These included short-term high PAR (1600 mumol m-2 s-1) which was given for 4 h either alone or in combination with an enhanced level of UV-BBE radiation (4.6 kJ m-2 h-1 biologically effective UV-B, 280-320 nm). Recovery from the radiation treatment was studied for 4 h under the light conditions for growth. Since it is known that the atrazine-tolerant mutant is susceptible to photoinhibition, one of the aims of the present study was to determine the effects of a supplemental, enhanced level of UV-B radiation with regard to the mutant. The results indicate an additive effect of UV-B radiation on Fv/Fm, photochemical yield and photosynthetic oxygen evolution during both exposure and recovery, and also a higher susceptibility of the mutant to photoinhibitory PAR conditions alone and in combination with UV-B, which may have implications in a changing environment. Both cultivars also showed a higher D1 turnover during the radiation stress than during recovery, as shown by immunoblotting and 35S-methionine incorporation measurements.     

Exploring the chiral space within the active site of alpha-thrombin with a constrained mimic of D-Phe-Pro-Arg--design, synthesis, inhibitory activity, and X-ray structure of an enzyme-inhibitor complex

An indolizidinone motif with strategically placed substitutents was designed and synthesized as a constrained mimic of D-Phe-Pro-Arg. Low nanomolar inhibition of alpha-thrombin validates the design elements in this inhibitor which also exhibits a 20-fold selectivity for thrombin versus trypsin. An X-ray crystal structure of the inhibitor with alpha-thrombin shows the expected interactions with key amino acids within the active site and some notable changes in positions.     

Effects of sex, body size, temperature, and location on the antipredator tactics of free-ranging gartersnakes (Thamnophis sirtalis, Colubridae)

Gartersnakes (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis) in southern Manitoba are subject to intense predation (primarily by crows) duringtheir spring breeding season. The huge numbers of snakes providea unique opportunity to quantify behavioral traits. We simulatedpredator attacks by "pecking" more than 500 free-ranging snakes,to explore the determinants of snake response. Snakes respondedto a human finger in the same way as they did to a more realisticstimulus (a model crow). A snake's response to attack dependedon several factors, which interacted in complex ways. The primaryinfluences on response were body temperature (warmer snakes tended to flee, whereas colder snakes remained cryptic or flattenedand/or gaped and struck) and sex (males were more likely toflee). Responses also depended on microhabitat (i.e., insidethe winter den versus in adjacent grassland) and on the snake'sprior activity (e.g., courting snakes often ignored our closeapproach). These factors interacted in significant ways; for example, snakes outside the den were smaller and warmer thanthose inside, male snakes were smaller and warmer than females,and mean body temperatures were higher in larger snakes withineach sex. Thus, a snake's body size and its location affectedits defensive response indirectly (via their influence on bodytemperature). Our results differ from those of previous studiesand suggest that antipredator responses in these animals dependin a flexible and complex way upon biotic and abiotic variables.Interactions among these variables also must be consideredbefore we can identify underlying causal processes.     

Increasing galactose consumption by Saccharomyces cerevisiae through metabolic engineering of the GAL gene regulatory network

Increasing the flux through central carbon metabolism is difficult because of rigidity in regulatory structures, at both the genetic and the enzymatic levels. Here we describe metabolic engineering of a regulatory network to obtain a balanced increase in the activity of all the enzymes in the pathway, and ultimately, increasing metabolic flux through the pathway of interest. By manipulating the GAL gene regulatory network of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is a tightly regulated system, we produced prototroph mutant strains, which increased the flux through the galactose utilization pathway by eliminating three known negative regulators of the GAL system: Gal6, Gal80, and Mig1. This led to a 41% increase in flux through the galactose utilization pathway compared with the wild-type strain. This is of significant interest within the field of biotechnology since galactose is present in many industrial media. The improved galactose consumption of the gal mutants did not favor biomass formation, but rather caused excessive respiro-fermentative metabolism, with the ethanol production rate increasing linearly with glycolytic flux.